Within the past month, we’ve consistently heard our current era being compared to that of the past: the Jim Crow Era. The Jim Crow Era was a time period where local and state legislation upheld racism and legalized segregation. During this period, a series of extremely divisive, abhorrent, and hurtful laws were passed known as Black Codes. These laws determined when and where formerly enslaved people could work. They laid out how much compensation the workers would receive, limited their voting rights, controlled where they could live, and used their children for child labor. In an effort to preserve segregation and slavery, pro-Confederate lawmakers did everything in their power to ensure that Blacks remained victims to these Black Codes, including stacking the courts with Confederate judges, making it increasingly challenging for Blacks to win any type of court case. As time passed the Black Codes expanded, restricting Blacks of their right to life, liberty, and happiness.
Ironically enough, history tells us that the Jim Crow Era came to a close after the Civil War due to the rise in civil rights activities in the African American community. Specifically, their focus on ensuring Black citizens the right to vote motivated President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which protected the African American community’s right to vote. The reason for the irony surrounding the “end” of the Jim Crow Era, is because 56 years later the state of Georgia passed a law that will suppress voter turnout as a whole, but it will specifically harm Black and Brown communities. To reiterate the wise words of Senator Raphael Warnock, ‘this is Jim Crow in new clothes’. However, one committed Black woman is carrying on the legacy of the civil rights movement to ensure that history does not repeat itself. If you’re an avid viewer of MSNBC like I am, you’ve seen and heard her many times before, but if not, you’ll be sure to hear from the Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter, LaTosha Brown, in the coming weeks.
LaTosha has been promoting positive change for years as evidenced by her being the recipient of the 2010 White House Champion of Change Award, the 2006 Spirit of Democracy Award, and the Louis Burnham Award for Human Rights. While she is well-known and respected in the South, her work has expanded to Guyana, Senegal, Belize, and Tanzania in an attempt to provide training, support, and funding for women-led institutions. Despite her diverse array of achievements, she is best known for her work surrounding voter suppression and the retribution against Black voting power.
Black voters in general, but those particularly in Georgia were able to achieve the ‘unimaginable’ in the recent election. They showed up at the polls like never before, flipped the state blue, and helped Democrats regain control of the Senate. They made their voices heard, triggering racist white lawmakers in Georgia and 42 other states. Brian Kemp, the Governor of Georgia and arguably one of the worst humans alive, is trying to prevent what happened in the past election by limiting drop boxes for mail-in ballots, introducing more rigid voter identification requirements for absentee balloting, and criminalizing the act of providing food or water to people waiting in line to vote. Long lines are common at polling locations but they are particularly common in the Black neighborhoods of Georgia’s cities where most of the Democratic constituency lives. The new law also widens the Legislature’s capability over elections, concerning many that they could interfere with the votes in heavily Democratic areas. The joke’s on Georgia because LaTosha Brown and her organization have teamed up with the New Georgia Project, the Georgia NAACP, and dozens of other organizations from across the state on a major campaign to take a stand against this new ruling.
In order to keep Black voters heard, these organizations have already started broadcasting statewide advertisements, launched phone banking campaigns, and attracted the support of several Georgia-based businesses to gain support and attention. Furthermore, LaTosha has launched a corporate accountability campaign to hold those in support of voter suppression accountable. She states “we’re launching this corporate accountability campaign because we know that, when backed by grassroots activism, corporate pressure works.”
Brown is a force to be reckoned with. She has made it her mission to protect her communities. She is showing Georgia that they’re more empowered and energized than ever before. And she is doing so because when effective and fair voting takes place, ‘a community is able to determine its own destiny.’
Comments